Guess who came home December 24th!? KIARA LEA! And of course, we celebrated! The airport scene was out of a movie... Kiara ran towards me. I ran towards her. We cried and hugged!
Our best friends were invited last minute to celebrate with us! (And we were happy to share our daughter and our traditions with them!)
Kiara had no idea that the Bettenhausens would be with us.... So she was beyond excited. She was surrounded by hugs and smiles and love! (Marmalade and Jelly Bean were especially excited to see her and wouldn't let her go.)

Apple Pie and Marmalade hugging Key Lime Pie

Jelly Bean was excited to see "his Kiara" again!

Marmalade couldn't stop giving hugs....

Dinner was AWESOME! Scott always makes this feast his gift of love! Kotten Kandy helped out behind the scenes and Fig Newton created the beautiful name cards again!

Afterwards: Christmas Pajamas! FOR EVERYONE! And we watched The Nativity Story.

Amy and Mark

The Betenhausens

The Bettenhausen Kids

The Kids I call "Mine!"

US!

TWINS!

I LOVE US!

My girls!

Kotten Kandy - Fig Newton - Key Lime Pie

Family PJs!

I always thought I'd have a "nice and normal" family,

Instead I am blessed with a "kind and weird" family!

Raisin was engrossed in The Nativity Story!

She loved the Baby Jesus.

It was a beautiful night! With some of our favorite people EVER! YAY, for family! YAY, for the Christmas season! And YAY, for the reason for the season!
I truly am grateful for the birth of our Lord and his eventual sacrifice to save all mankind!

Monday, December 19, 2016

We are so blessed! We have so many wonderful gifts/friends! It's true that as I get older, I don't need or want material gifts as much as I need dear friends! These great friends of ours all are striving to live righteously and do good. They are examples to me and my daughters! And they are loving anchors for my sanity! Spending Christmas time with them is the best!

Bettenhausens, Coolbears, Schmids, Pinas, US, Kellys

The Schmids hosted a Christmas party for the adults. We had so much fun learning how each couple met, fell in love, etc. Then we had lots of yummy food and played White Elephant! The spontaneous sing-a-long was the best part - we could start a pretty good choir with Tony on the guitar and the rest of us singing "O Come All Ye Faithful!" I love these wonderful friends!
And with these wonderful friends come some wonderful kids - whom I love and adore! I'm grateful that we can spend time with them sharing my love of books with them, my love of music with them and my love of nativities (and all things Christmas) with them! Here's how we share those things:

Taffy

Spencer - Asparagus's novel is also in the pic - but he fell asleep.

I was so excited to share my dad's autobiographical novel with some of my favorite young men...

Rice Krispie

Maple

Goose Girl is one of my favorite novels. I hope they love it as much as I do.

(When we gave them the books from Scott and I -

Scott told them they weren't from him if they didn't like them. Ha ha!)

He wanted to add to my nativity collection so he cut me an original snowflake.

It's GORGEOUS! He also cut out 4 other snowflakes of wise-men and a camel.

I'm going to frame them. How does his mind work?! It's incredible that he can fold a piece of paper and see these intricate designs in his mind - and execute them with scissors. What a talent!

These girls (Marmalade and Apple) made my night! They used my food storage and blankets, along with some creativity to create their own nativity! The pink blanket/bucket is Mary. The chair is Joseph. The basket contains Baby Jesus (a stuffed animal). The wise-men have decorated paper bowls for crowns and candy for the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The angels wings are Santa hats and the shepherd's staff is a billiard cue. These adorable cuties had fun creating a nativity for me! And I LOVE that they are learning about the true meaning of Christmas!!!!